1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a wireless communication system, and more particularly, to a system and method for transmitting and receiving common control information in a wireless communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Presently, wireless communication systems are being developed to support various services such as broadcasting, multimedia video, multimedia messaging, etc. In particular, the 4th generation wireless communication system is being developed to provide a data rate of 100 Mbps or higher to high-speed mobile users, and a data rate of 1 Gbps or higher to low-speed mobile users, in voice and packet data communications.
The wireless communication systems are developing from the existing communication systems into evolved communication systems. Herein, the existing communication system will be referred to as a ‘legacy communication system’, and the evolved communication system will be referred to as a ‘new communication system’.
The new communication system intends to introduce new (evolved) technologies unused in the legacy communication system. The new technologies include multi-antenna technology, Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) technology, multicast/broadcast service technology, etc. With the development of technologies for communication systems, there it is possible for the legacy communication system and the new communication system to coexist in one communication system. If the communication systems continue to develop, the new communication system can eventually replace the legacy communication system.
In the situation where the two communication systems coexist, the two communication systems should interwork with each other for users of the legacy communication system and users of the new communication system. When the legacy communication system is replaced with the new communication system, new technical schemes for supporting the replacement should be defined, because the legacy communication system and the new communication system may have different channel structures and/or different signaling structures.
Meanwhile, issues that should be importantly dealt with in both communication systems are transmission/reception of common control information. The common control information is important information that all mobile stations existing in the system should receive. Therefore, in the case where the legacy communication system and the new communication system coexist, a transmission/reception scheme of the common control information should be defined. Even in the case where the legacy communication system is replaced with the new communication system, a transmission/reception scheme of the common control information should be newly defined.